1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an air cleaner system for a motorcycle, which is disposed under a fuel tank, and particularly to an air cleaner system capable of making an air cleaner having a large capacity as compact as possible.
2. Background of the Invention
A motorcycle including an air cleaner disposed between a fuel tank supported over a body frame and an engine supported under the body frame has been known, for example, from Japanese Patent Laid-open No. Hei 8-216958 and Japanese Patent Laid-open No. Hei 10-196478. The air cleaner disposed in the former document has a configuration in which a flat air cleaner element is disposed in the vertical direction, and the air cleaner disposed in the latter document has a configuration in which a cylindrical air cleaner element is also disposed in the vertical direction.
By the way, according to the configuration of the prior art air cleaner, to make the capacity of the air cleaner larger, it is required to make the size of the air cleaner element larger, and to dispose such a larger-sized air cleaner element in the vertical direction, the fuel tank disposed over the air cleaner must be thin or reduced in capacity, or to be shifted upwardly and mounted at a higher position. From the viewpoint of the layout of the vehicular body, however, the fuel tank may be desirable not to be affected by the mounting of the air cleaner.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to solve the above-described problem of the prior art air cleaner.
To achieve the above object, according to the present invention, there is provided an air cleaner system for a motorcycle in which an air cleaner is disposed between a fuel tank supported over a body frame and an engine supported under the body frame, characterized in that a plurality of independent air cleaner elements are disposed sideways in a case for the air cleaner.
According to the present invention, a dirty room provided in the case for the air cleaner is partitioned into a plurality of independent intake passages which are each connected to the corresponding one of the air cleaner elements; and part of each of the wall surfaces for partitioning the dirty room into the plurality of intake passages is taken as a water drip wall projecting in the intake passage.
According to the present invention, ribs are formed on the water drip wall in such a manner as to project in the intake passage.
According to the present invention, since an air cleaner element is divided into a plurality of independent parts disposed sideways, it is possible to efficiently dispose the air cleaner element in the case while ensuring a necessary filtering area. As a result, the capacity of the air cleaner can be increased without increasing the size of the air cleaner, so that it is possible to prevent the fuel tank positioned over the air cleaner from being affected by the mounting of the air cleaner, for example, it is not required to reduce the capacity of the fuel tank or to make the mounting position of the fuel tank higher.
According to the present invention, the dirty room provided in the case for the air cleaner is partitioned into a plurality of intake passages which are each connected to the corresponding one of the air cleaner elements, and part of each of the wall surfaces for partitioning the dirty room into the plurality of intake passages is taken as a water drip wall projecting in the intake passage, and accordingly, at least part of the outside air having entered the intake passage can be brought into contact with the water drip wall, and since the water drip wall projects in the intake passage, moisture in the outside air can be separated from the outside air by the contact therebetween. Accordingly, it is possible to effectively remove moisture from the outside air on the upstream side from the air cleaner elements.
According to the present invention, since the ribs projecting in the intake passage are provided on the water drip wall, they function as baffle plates against outside air having entered in the intake passage. As a result, it is possible to further effectively remove moisture in the outside air in addition to the presence of the water drip walls.
Further scope of applicability of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description given hereinafter. However, it should be understood that the detailed description and specific examples, while indicating preferred embodiments of the invention, are given by way of illustration only, since various changes and modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this detailed description.